Cougars d-man gets five games . . . Heid's season over . . . Ice wins at Hockey Hooky

My boy @Gropper8 shakes hands with legend Don Cherry after BMO Top Prospects Game #memoryofalifetime pic.twitter.com/EkocSrdkEJ
— Colleen Gropp (@colleengropp) January 23, 2015

F Jakub Langhammer (Spokane, 2002-04) has signed the for rest of this season with Regensburg (Germany, Oberliga). This season, with Eispiraten Crimmitschau (Germany, DEL2), he had seven goals and five assists in 29 games. He was released at his request by Crimmitschau on Jan. 8.
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D Sam Ruopp of the Prince George Cougars has been suspended for five games after taking a kneeing major and game misconduct in a 6-1 loss to the visiting Everett Silvertips on Tuesday. Ruopp, the Cougars’ captain, drew a two-game suspension for the same infraction earlier in the season. . . . Ruopp has missed one game already, and won’t play tonight in Medicine Hat.
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The Portland Winterhawks revealed Thursday that D Nick Heid, 17, underwent shoulder surgery on Wednesday and won’t play again this season. . . . “Nick is a big part of our future and this surgery will help ensure he’s healthy for training camp in August,” Jamie Kompon, the team’s GM and head coach, said in a news release. . . . Heid, from Fridley, Minn., was in his first season with the Winterhawks. He last played on Jan. 9. Heid was pointless in 17 games. . . . Late Thursday afternoon, Heid tweeted: “Tough decision to make, but having my shoulder repaired will help ensure that I am ready for next season. Thanks to everyone for your support and good luck to the @pdxwinterhawks the remainder of the season.”
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The OHL’s Sarnia Sting franchise is in the process of changing hands. When all is said and done, former NHL D Derian Hatcher and David Legwand, a forward with the Ottawa Senators, will own the Sting. . . . Terry Bridge of the Sarnia Observer has more right here.
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If you are into podcasts, you can’t go wrong with the latest effort at Pucklandia. It features former WHL F Oren Koules, who is a producer of the Saw movies as well as the hit TV show Two And A Half Men. He also is the father of Portland Winterhawks F Miles Koules. There are some great stories told right here.
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I made mention in this space yesterday of a pair of tweets from former NHL referee Paul Stewart. He writes regularly for The Huffington Post and on Thursday he wrote a length on the Zac Rinaldo hit on Kris Letang and the role that coaches are, or aren’t, playing when it comes to player safety in hockey. That piece is right here.
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When given the opportunity, I will be sure to watch the documentary Red Army, a film about perhaps the greatest hockey team in the history of the sport. The Red Army team dominated internationally in the 1970s and into the ’80s. . . . Ben Reiter of Sports Illustrated has more right here, including a thrilling anecdote involving the night in 1987 when Wayne Gretzky invited the Soviet’s teams Green unit to his folks’ home in Brantford, Ont., for a barbecue.
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If you haven’t already seen this right here, it is every minor hockey player’s worst nightmare -- a ranting parent. Only this one is different. He hits the glass and, well, watch for yourself.
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Michael Powell of The New York Times was there Thursday when New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick, one of the great actors of our time, spoke to the media about the inflation and deflation of footballs. Powell’s piece is right here and it really is funny.
Later in the day, Patriots quarterback Tom Brady chatted with the media and, yes, he denied, denied, denied. Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times has more right here.
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THURSDAY’S GAME:

In Edmonton, F Tim Bozon scored three goals to lead the Kootenay Ice to a 5-3 victory over the Oil Kings. . . . It was Edmonton’s sixth annual CN Hockey Hooky promotion. The game began at 11:30 a.m., and attendance was announced at 10,396. . . . According to the Oil Kings’ website, about 7,000 school students were in attendance. . . . The Oil Kings led 3-1 late in the second period when the Ice tied it on goals by Boson, at 17:28, and D Tyler King, at 19:11. . . . King has seven goals. . . . Bozon broke the tie with his third goal, and 17th of the season, on a PP at 1:18 of the third. . . . Ice F Levi Cable provided insurance with his 20th goal, an empty-netter, at 19:42. . . . F Brett Pollock scored twice, giving him 21, and added an assist for Edmonton. His 20th goal of the season was his 100th career point. . . . It was Bozon’s fourth career hat trick -- he has two with the Ice after putting up two with the Kamloops Blazers. . . . Ice D Rinat Valiev had two assists. . . . Kootenay G Wyatt Hoflin stopped 28 shots, six fewer than Edmonton’s Tristan Jarry. . . . The Ice was 2-for-3 on the PP; the Oil Kings were 0-for-3. . . . The Ice (24-22-1) is fifth in the Central Division, one point behind Edmonton and four in back of Calgary. . . . The Oil Kings (22-19-6) still hold down the Eastern Conference’s first wild-card spot. . . . Taylor Rocca of the Cranbrook Daily Townsman has a game story right here.
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God Bless Miss Canada. By the looks of that score, she is also an advocate of bigger nets pic.twitter.com/mVmPWcmFKE
— John Buccigross (@Buccigross) January 23, 2015

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The Book Shelf: Part 2 of 4

The Book Shelf: Part 2 of 4

Just in time for Christmas, here’s a brief look at some of the books I have read over the last while:

The Gods of Guilt -- Author Michael Connelly revisits Mickey Haller, the Lincoln Lawyer, in this one. There is a murder victim, who was a prostitute; she also was a former client of Haller’s whom he had tried hard to get out of her line of work. Obviously, it didn’t work. If you read The Lincoln Lawyer (2005) and enjoyed it, you’ll like this one. (Kindle)

His Ownself: A Semi-Memoir -- If you are a sports fan and a reader, you no doubt will have read Dan Jenkins, either in Sports Illustrated, Golf Digest or Playboy, or between the covers of one of his numerous books. Now we have His Ownself, written in Jenkins’ take-no-prisoners style. This is writing the way it used to be, before political correctness smothered a lot of it. Go along with Jenkins on a great ride as he revisits his long and terrific career. But as you read along, you get the feeling that the author is laughing at life, like he knows he has pulled a fast one. Reading this is kind of like watching George Clooney and Brad Pitt in the movie Oceans 11. No one should have as much fun as they do; no one should have as much fun as Jenkins did during his career. (Kindle)

Hockey Card Stories: True Tales from Your Favourite Players -- This is a neat book, but it's not one to be read in one or two sittings. Rather, it's to be enjoyed over a month or six weeks. Author Ken Reid, a card collector who is an anchor with Rogers Sportsnet when he isn't counting cards, has selected a number of hockey cards and tells their stories through conversations with the pictured players. There are some terrific stories here, too. For example, Bryan Maxwell, now an assistant coach with the Lethbridge Hurricanes, has three cards but his picture is on only one of them. (A note to the author: Despite what you might find on the Internet, Butch Goring’s famous helmet was a ‘SPAPS’, not a ‘SNAPS’. Yes, I had one.) (Kindle)

Kid Dynamite: The Gerry James Story -- Gerry James is the greatest Canadian athlete whom few people remember, and that’s unfortunate. Playing for football’s Winnipeg Blue Bombers and hockey’s Toronto Maple Leafs during the same years, James was Bo Jackson before Bo Jackson. James was one of the greatest players in CFL history, twice winning the Schenley Award as the league’s top Canadian. He won scoring championships and Grey Cups; he was one of best and toughest running backs of his day. As a hockey player, he played like, well, a football player. In southern Saskatchewan, he is best known as a senior hockey player, as well as a junior hockey owner, general manager and coach. He also is an enigma, something that is most evident in author Ron Smith’s work. Reading this book, you are left to wonder if James, a contradictarian if ever there was one, knows himself, and if he doesn’t, is there any chance of Smith figuring him out. This book is worth reading, if for no other reason than to understand just what a terrific athlete James was. Unfortunately, there is a bit too much of the author in this book. As well, this book, like so many others today, could have used a good editor. Darth Vadar? Schultz, as in Charles M. Schulz? Sidney Crosbie? Wayne Gretsky? . . . If you’re wondering where the nickname, Kid Dynamite, came from, James’ father Eddie (Dynamite) James was a terrific footballer in his own right. (Kindle)

The King of Sports: Football’s Impact on America -- Author Gregg Easterbrook takes off the gloves as he takes on mostly the NCAA and the NFL, pointing out in no uncertain terms just how it is that football at those levels rules the roost. This just may get you looking at football and all of its money in a different light. (Kindle)

The Lost 10 Point Night: Searching for my Hockey Hero . . . Jim Harrison: When he was a child and first became a hockey fan, David Ward, the author of this little gem, became entranced with Jim Harrison. Almost 40 years later, Ward tracked down Harrison, along with a number of former junior, NHL and WHA teammates, and is able to tell the story of a boy/man and his hockey hero. Harrison is a great story, too, because he has beefs with a team or two, the NHLPA, Alan Eagleson and a few others, and he isn’t the least bit leery about voicing his opinion. This book won‘t get much publicity against some of the big boys that appear before Christmas, but it‘s a wonderful read. (Kindle)

My Cross to Bear -- Give this a read and you’ll wonder how it is that Gregg Allman, he of Allman Brothers Band fame, is still alive. From all the booze and all the drugs and all the wives (six at last count) and all the other women, not to mention the liver transplant, he should have been dead a long time ago. Still, this book, written with Alan Light, provides honest insight into Allman and his music career. You may recall that he once was married to Cher. “I was really glad that she never asked me what I thought of her singing,” he writes, “because I’m sorry, but she’s not a very good singer.” No, that marriage didn’t last either. (William Morrow, 390 pages, soft cover, Cdn$17.99, US$15.99)

Never Go Back -- Someone, and I can’t remember who it was, told me a long time ago to be wary of purchasing a book if the author’s name is larger than the title. Author Lee Child is there with Never Go Back, the latest book in his Jack Reacher series. Oh, it’s as readable and as much escapism as any of the earlier works, but there’s something missing here. Perhaps it’s the introduction of the teenager who may or may not be his daughter, who may or may not show up in a future book. I don’t know. Or maybe I just can’t get it out of my head that Hollywood selected Tom Cruise, all 5-foot-8 of him, to play Reacher, who goes 6-foot-5 and 250 pounds, in that movie. Included is a Reacher short story (High Heat) that is quite good. (Dell, soft cover, 607 pages, Cdn$11.99, US$9.99)

99: Gretzky: His Game, His Story -- Keeping in mind that author Al Strachan and former NHL star Wayne Gretzky are good friends, this still is a good read. In fact, it may be worth reading just for the prickly Strachan’s many pokes at NHL commissioner Gary Bettman. There isn’t anything terribly shocking here, but there are a whole lot of Gretzky-related anecdotes that haven’t previously seen the light of day. (Kindle)

Is the WHL in Babey's future? . . . Improvements in Spokane

F Tomáš Karpov (Moose Jaw, Calgary, 2007-09) has signed a three-year extension with the Basingstoke Bison (England, Premier). Last season, in 54 games, he had 76 points, including 37 goals. He was a first-team Premier League all-star, and led the Bison in goals and points, all while working on a degree at the University of Winchester.
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1. On Tuesday, in this space, I mentioned something about Kingston Frontenacs F Sam Bennett’s inability to do one pull-up at the NHL Scouting Combine in Mississauga, Ont., last weekend.
That prompted an NHL scout to relate, via email, a couple of fitness testing-related anecdotes.
“Martin Havlat was at the Combine in his draft year,” the scout wrote. “He couldn’t do a single bench press. He ended up having a pretty good career and immediate success as a young player.
“I heard (Wayne) Gretzky tell a story one day. To paraphrase, he said: ‘Early in my career, we had testing. I did 10 sit-ups, but scored 60-plus goals that season. Near the end of my career, I could do 60-plus sit-ups, but only scored 10 goals during the season!’ ”
In closing, the scout wrote: “This entire Combine thing is about showcasing the league. Many of the tests that they do are irrelevant to hockey, but they ‘look’ good.”
So, kids, if you blow a test or two, don’t lose sleep over it because it’s what you do on the ice that the scouts will remember.

2. BTW, Wayne Gretzky looked good and sounded great as he appeared on Hockey Night in Canada prior to Game 1 of the Stanley Cup final on Wednesday night. . . . The NHL should hang its head in shame because Gretzky is not actively employed in promoting their game. The fact that he isn't working for an individual team or out of the NHL office should be an embarrassment to the commissioner and the owners. . . . Contrast that with Major League Baseball and the NFL, both of which have numerous former players, many of them Hall of Famers, working to better and to promote their games in one fashion or another.

3. Let the speculation begin. The Calgary Hitmen have an opening for a head coach and Ken Babey, the face of athletics at SAIT in Calgary, is leaving the Trojans after 27 years as the hockey team’s head coach. He also has been the school’s athletic director since 1997. According to a news release: “A desire to pursue other interests, and to go out on on top, has been given as reasons for his decision to step down.” . . . Babey took over as the Trojans head coach in 1987. That followed one season as an assistant coach. . . . Under his guidance, the Trojans won 534 of 849 games. He leaves with a .629 winning percentage. . . . Vicki Hall of the Calgary Herald has more right here, including the revelation that Babey “hopes to find another coaching gig in the near future.” . . . Let the speculation begin.

4. There are at least three movies in the works involving concussions in football. . . . Will Smith may star in one that is based on the GQ story Game Brain that was written by Jeanne Marie Laskas. . . . Cindy Boren of the Washington Post has more right here.

5. D Evan Morden (Everett, Prince Albert, 2011-14) has committed to attend Brock University in St. Catharines, Ont., and play for the Badgers. . . . Morden, from Swan River, Man., will attend the Goodman School of Business at Brock. . . . He played most of last season with the MJHL’s Swan Valley Stampeders. . . . He split 170 WHL games between Everett and Prince Albert, putting up 23 points, including six goals.

6. Yes, the Stanley Cup final started on Wednesday night. John Branch of The New York Times takes a look right here at the rivalry between Los Angeles and New York. Hey, any story in which there are quotes from Ed (Boxcar) Hospodar is a good one.

7. The way NHL commissioner Gary Bettman has it figured, if the NBA’s Los Angeles Clippers are worth US$2 billion, “we have plenty of franchises that are worth that, if not more.” . . . OK. Stop laughing! . . . Bettman had that to say and a whole lot more prior to Game 1 of the Stanley Cup final. Helene Elliott of the Los Angeles Times has more right here.

8. Fans of the Spokane Chiefs should be in for improved wireless service when they attend games in the Veterans Memorial Arena in the fall. Boingo Wireless, which bills itself as “the leading DAS and Wi-Fi provider that serves consumers, carriers and advertisers worldwide,” has been chosen to manage the facility’s Distributed Antenna System (DAS) “from design to deployment, multi-carrier access to ongoing management.” . . . According to a news release: “The DAS networks will provide enhanced cellular capacity, allowing fans to upload videos and photos of their event experiences in real time. Boingo’s neutral host approach to DAS networks allow for multiple carriers to access the network on behalf of their customers, ensuring that more fans are automatically connected to the state-of-the-art cellular network.”

9. Don Zimmer, one of the grand old men of baseball, has died at the age of 83. He played for Casey Stengel. He managed four teams on a full-time basis and was the New York Yankees’ interim manager for a bit. In all, he was involved in baseball for more than 60 years. In The Zen of Zim, written with New York writer Bill Madden and published in 2004, Zimmer says: “All I’ve ever been is a simple baseball man, but it’s never ceased to amaze me how so many far more accomplished people I’ve met in this life wanted to be one, too. What a game, this baseball!” . . . The New York Times obituary is right here.

10. The end of Donald Sterling’s days in the NBA is nigh, and it is going to happen without anyone ending up in court. The end result of his selling the Los Angeles Clippers for US$2 billion could be the raising of the NBA’s age limit to 20. Michael McCann of SI.com has all that and more right here. . . . If you want the inside info on the Sterling affair, this is a great read.

11. The World Cup doesn’t start until next week, but the mind game are underway. With Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo on the limp, a witch doctor from Ghana is claiming responsibility. The Guardian has more right here.
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THE COACHING GAME:
The AJHL’s Olds Grizzlys have signed Brett Hopfe, their director of hockey operations and head coach, and Dana Lattery, the manager of player development and assistant coach, to three-year contract extensions. The contracts run through the next three seasons. . . . Joel Hunter, the business operations manager, got a one-year extension.
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The Detroit Red Wings have signed Jeff Blashill, the head coach of their AHL affiliate, the Grand Rapids Griffins, to a three-year contract that runs through 2016-17. Blashill, 40, just completed his second season with the Griffins. They won the Calder Cup as AHL champions in 2012-13. Last season, they finished with 99 points, an increase of seven, then went on to lose a conference semifinal series to the Texas Stars. . . . Last month, Blashill was honoured as the AHL’s coach of the year.

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Lists are for discussing around the round table, or perhaps even arguing over. If you haven’t seen it, TSN has released its list of the top 40 Canadian players in the history of the World Junior Championship. TSN put together a 25-person panel and aired a show on the list on Wednesday evening.
I was privileged to be one of the 25 panellists but I had no idea how tough it would be to narrow the list of players to 40. I spent two nights working on this project and could have spent a month, and I still would have been moving names around.
If you haven’t seen the list — it’s headed up by Jordan Eberle, Eric Lindros and Wayne Gretzky — it’s right here.
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Here’s Gary Belsky, in Time, writing about the NHL and the mess in which it finds itself:
“You may not have noticed that the NHL hasn’t started its season yet, which is arguably Problem #1 for the wannabe major league: Ice hockey is fourth in a three-horse race of  pro team sports vying for the affection of casual U.S. fans. Problem #1A is the lockout of players that’s been in force since Sept. 15, which has resulted in the cancellation of nearly 550 regular-season games to date. But in the event you are following the inaction rinkside, don’t be fooled when league officials or anyone else claims that the main issue is greedy players. The real problem in hockey is not in the locker room, but in the owners’ suites and commissioner’s office.”
This is a most compelling column and it’s right here.
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So as the WHL begins its Christmas break you may be wondering if WHL vs. Portland Winterhawks is a dead issue.
It isn’t.
The Winterhawks, I am told, continue to explore their options, one of which is to plead their case at a board of governors’ meeting that is scheduled for February.
The Winterhawks plan right now is to do just that and see what happens at that time.
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Meanwhile, Sam Adams, the outgoing mayor of Portland, “announced Wednesday that he wouldn’t ask his City Council colleagues to vote on his $31.5-million proposal to renovate Veterans Memorial Coliseum” for the Winterhawks, writes Beth Slovic of The Oregonian.
The vote has been scheduled for March 13, which is after the WHL’s board of governors will have met. Winterhawks owner Bill Gallacher has said he is prepared to put $10 million of his own money into the project.
Slovic’s story is right here.
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The New York Post’s infamous Page Six is usually reserved for the Kardashians, Paris Hilton and their ilk. So what is Portland Winterhawks D Seth Jones doing there? Check it out right here.
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D Connor Sutton of the Lethbridge Hurricanes had his junior A rights change hands on Wednesday. The SJHL’s Battlefords North Stars dealt Sutton, 18, and future considerations to the BCHL’s Salmon Arm Silverbacks for F Troy Petrick, 19. . . . Sutton, who turns 19 on Jan. 12, is from Cochrane, Alta. He has one goal in 12 games with the Hurricanes.
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From Cause We’re Canadian (@MadeInCanada): “We all watch the zamboni, just to make sure he doesn’t miss a spot #canadianproblems”
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Kootenay Ice F Sam Reinhart (@Samson Reinhart) lets out a secret: “We have all changed the date on an assignment to make the teacher think it was completed on time”

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The Los Angeles Kings continue to celebrate their Stanley Cup victory, as they will through the summer.
The last (and only) time the Kings had a shot at Lord Stanley's mug was in 1993 when Wayne Gretzky and Luc Robitaille sported the Kings colors.
Of course, Jim Murray was there to write about it.
Enjoy!

JUNE 6, 1993 SPORTS
Copyright 1993/THE TIMES MIRROR COMPANY

JIM MURRAY

Great Expectations Nearing Fulfillment

    When Bruce McNall traded for Wayne Gretzky in 1988, we all knew he wasn't merely buying a hockey player, he was buying the Stanley Cup. It came attached to Gretzky. After all, he had won it four times for the Edmonton Oilers.
    And, when he didn't win it, he was in it. The final, that is.
    No one in L.A. even knew what the Stanley Cup looked like. Or Gretzky, for that matter. All we ever saw of him was this guy skating around in a plastic helmet, waving a stick in the air after he had whipped in another goal against the Kings.
    He got 56 of them and 170 points in only 63 games against the Kings. He found them barely harder to get through than Kleenex.
    So, we hurried to the news conference when he was traded to get a fix on this new L.A. mega-star. I remember how startled we were at our first close-up at him. I don't know what we pictured — your basic Canadian roughneck dripping tobacco juice, toothless, face stitched like a wall motto, parts of his ear missing. I guess. Something called "Boom Boom," or "the Rocket," or "the Gorilla."
    Heck, this guy didn't even look like Cowboy Flett. He had all his teeth, for cryin' out loud! Didn't have a stitch on him. He wasn't big. He looked too frail to be a hockey player. Not a tattoo anywhere.
    He had this almost baby face, a nice smile, long blond hair. You would have figured him for a surfer if you'd run into him on the sand at Santa Monica. He could play the angel in a Christmas play.
    This was a guy who had scored the most goals, 92, in a single season? Who scored the most single-season points, 215? Who scored the most points in the history of the game?
    Our first thought was, those smart-alecks up in Canada had pulled a fast one. This couldn't be the great Gretzky, this — this altar boy. This was a fax.
    But L.A. fans were patient. They told him to take all the time he'd need. Take a year, if necessary. We'd wait.
    Then, they sat back to see how he would do it. Unfortunately, his teammates did, too. Some of them should have paid to get in. They didn't think Gretzky needed any help. All of them would have qualified for the Lady Byng Trophy, which they give in this league to the player who tries to kill the fewest opponents during the season.
    Everybody figured this was Wayne's world. They stood around waiting for him to do it all. All they wanted to do was take the bows.
    The public kept waiting, too. Each day it kept expecting to pick up the paper and see where Gretzky had exploded for eight or 10 goals, had performed a double hat trick — after all, 49 times in his career he has had three or more goals in a game.
    But first you need the puck. The Kings could never seem to find it, get it to him.
    Gretzky handled it well, tried his best. No one brought it up specifically, but as year piled on to year, you could feel the unspoken parts of the postgame interview as Gretzky would patiently account for another disappointment.
    "Er, ah, Wayne. It's about the Cup. Er, ah, the — ahem — Stanley Cup? Er, when can we expect that?"
    When it looked as if it would be never, along came 1993. It had not been a good season for Gretzky. All those years of getting hammered into the boards had paid off in a herniated disk. He never even got on the ice till the season was half over.
    But that was the bad news. The good news was that the Gretzky who came back was the old whirlwind, the center iceman with the uncanny knack for being where the puck was, who could find the open man in the crowd at Times Square on New Year's Eve and get the puck to him at the precise moment the goalie was looking the other way.
    There was also the likelihood the team had learned to fend for itself in Gretzky's absence. It had matured. The chemistry was there. Gretzky only ignited it.
    The Cup playoffs were like old times. There was Gretzky making a playoff game look like an ice show, skating around and through the opposition, pulling hat tricks, slapping in winning goals.
    Suddenly, the Holy Grail of hockey was right there for grabbing. The upstart Kings rolled through the Montreal Canadiens in the first game like the German army through Belgium. The only score the Canadiens had was kicked in by Gretzky.
    The Canadiens coach, a sly fellow, found a way with one minute to play to win a game with a rule book instead of a puck when he invoked a hockey version of the corked bat to remove from the lineup a key player at the critical time. Hockey is the only game that does not play on a level field personnel-wise, and the hole in the lineup was fatal.
    But if anyone doubted Gretzky's importance to his hockey team, Game 5 of the test matches would have overcome them. As these ice follies came to Los Angeles for the first time in history Saturday night with the whole town waiting to form up for a ticker-tape parade, the Kings suddenly developed a case of what is known in the theater as flop sweat. They kept, so to speak, blowing their lines, falling into the scenery.
    They fell behind, 3-0, and seemed to be looking around to see where to go to surrender.
    Gretzky wouldn't let them. Suddenly, there he was behind the net with the puck. He spotted the open Luc Robitaille, flicked the puck to him for the score. The Kings were back in the game, calling for cards.
     Nine minutes later, after Tony Granato made it 3-2, there was Gretzky weaving down center ice with the puck on his stick, a sight no goaltender wants to see. Aaron with a hanging curve. Gretzky slapped it in from 30 feet or so. The score was tied.
    It wasn't enough. For the second game in a row, the Kings lost quickly (34 seconds) in overtime.
    But it couldn't obscure a central fact for the Kings. When Gretzky is on the ice, they are a Stanley Cup team. When he isn't they are — well, maybe not a buttercup team but at least a hiccup.
    He put them in the Stanley Cup finals. Will they come back?
    Even if they don't, the fact that they're there means the community has now found out something the rest of hockey already knew. Wayne Gretzky is half a hockey team all by himself. Behind that choirboy exterior beats the heart of a train robber. The halo slips when he gets the puck.
    He has finally done what he came to do. When you think of the athletes who came to this town with flags waving and bands playing but who crept out whining and complaining, Gretzky stands up and stands out. He starred for his sport and spoke for his sport. He put hockey on Page One and Prime Time. That's a hat trick all its own.

Reprinted with permission by the Los Angeles Times.

Jim Murray Memorial Foundation | P.O. Box 60753 | Pasadena | CA | 91116

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Matthew Gourlie of the Moose Jaw Times-Herald has written a terrific feature on Sean O’Connor, who has found success in Germany after spending eight years in the North American minor leagues. O’Connor played three seasons (1999-2002) with the Moose Jaw Warriors.
However, he has experienced two seizures in the last nine months.
Gourlie writes:
Inexplicable seizures would be worrisome enough for an otherwise healthy 30-year-old, but there’s something else that gnaws at O’Connor:
“I’ve had multiple concussions because of the role I played my whole life. So you wonder what role that has played in this,” said O’Connor.
The complete story is right here and it’s well worth your time.
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Tim Wharnsby, a veteran journalist who now is with CBC, has spent the season keeping track of concussions in the NHL.
He wrote this piece Thursday that carries this headline — Concussion numbers were staggering in NHL’s 2011-12.
“The numbers are staggering,” Wharnsby writes. “When the regular season concludes on Saturday, almost 90 players and 1,700 man games will be lost to head injuries or concussion-related symptoms.”
Unfortunately, the WHL has hidden its concussion numbers all season long. But considering that the WHL plays pretty much the same game as the NHL, we can assume the junior league’s numbers also were staggering.
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Walter Gretzky was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease earlier this week and his son, Wayne, spoke about it in Vancouver. Bob Mackin has that piece right here.
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The Swift Current K-Motel Hurricanes won the South Saskatchewan Minor Hockey League midget AA championship earlier this week. They are coached by Tim Tisdale, one of hockey’s great guys. Tisdale, of course, scored the overtime goal that won the 1989 Memorial Cup for the Swift Current Broncos. . . . Talk about someone who has given back to the game. Tisdale has coached, officiated and served on minor hockey executive boards.
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Derek Laxdal, the head coach of the Edmonton Oil Kings, is an astute individual. He isn’t on Twitter. Why not?
“Personally, I find guys that are tweeting and texting, they’re checking their phones 24/7. It’s almost addictive,” Laxdal tells Evan Daum of the Edmonton Journal. “They all want to be heard, they want to see what’s going on. I don’t think it’s very productive,” Laxdal said of social media.
“I watch the kids, I key in on it and watch people on Twitter. They’ve always got their phones in their hands. You always see people at stoplights, they’re checking their phones and I just think it’s a distraction. I think it takes away from being a productive citizen.”
He’s right. And that complete story is right here.
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A note from a CHL press release regarding Sportsnet’s coverage:
“On April 13, Friday Night Hockey shifts to the WHL for Game 5 of the Husky WHL Eastern Conference Semi-Finals when the sixth place Brandon Wheat Kings visit the first place Edmonton Oil Kings at 8 p.m. ET on Sportsnet ONE, Sportsnet West, and Sportsnet Pacific.”
But, gee, what if the same team wins the first four games? Or is this a best-of-nine in memory of the late Bill Hunter, who once owned the Oil Kings?
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As we get some rest and relaxation prior to the start of the second round of WHL playoffs on four fronts tonight, what better than a little . . . chess?
There is an intriguing story right here about a U.S. college coach — Chess teams in U.S. colleges? Who knew? — whose team won the national championship and then departed for another school. Oh, and she took her top players with her.
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A few thoughts from Rob Vanstone of the Regina Leader-Post:
The WHL needs to address its playoff format. In a 22-team league, it stands to reason that there should be two 11-team conferences, with the top eight teams in each loop advancing to the post-season. But not in the imbalanced WHL, in which there are 12 teams in the Eastern Conference and 10 in the Western Conference. As a result, four Eastern teams miss the playoffs, compared to two out west.
The format was especially unfair this year. In the Western Conference, the Victoria Royals and Everett Silvertips made the playoffs with 55 and 54 points, respectively. Yet, the Red Deer Rebels (70 points), Swift Current Broncos (62) and Lethbridge Hurricanes (59) missed the playoffs in the Eastern Conference. One step toward guarding against a recurrence of this problem would be to move the Kootenay Ice, which is not in the B.C. Division despite being based in Cranbrook, B.C., to the Western Conference and even out the conferences.
WHL referees should be made available to the media to explain penalties that have a bearing on the outcome. If a 16-year-old rookie defenceman coughs up the puck on a key goal, he has to explain himself to reporters. Yet, the officials can hide behind the league-mandated gag order. This long-standing policy was particularly irksome during a first-round series between the Warriors and Regina Pats. Anyone who attended Game 4 at the Brandt Centre would welcome a detailed, timely explanation of a controversial clipping major that was assessed to Regina's Dyson Stevenson.
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If not chess, how about some golf? The Masters is ongoing in Augusta and Karen Crouse of The New York Times has written a terrific piece on the fact that it’s 2012 and the Augusta National Golf Club still doesn’t have female members. When you think about that for even one second, you realize how absurd it is.
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And here is the daily tweet from Twitter star Griffin Reinhart of the Edmonton Oil Kings: “You might not believe me but my mom is mother Theresa.”

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Mike Barnett leaves hockey for family

MIKE BARNETT

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor

Mike Barnett, once the most-prominent agent in the hockey business and one of the most powerful people in the sport, has stepped away from the game.
Barnett, who was Wayne Gretzky’s agent for 21 years, has left the employ of the NHL’s New York Rangers in order to spend more time with his wife, Julianna, and four daughters in Scottsdale, Ariz.
“We just came back from four days of camping,” Barnett said, “and it was exactly what I had hoped it would be. It was a real pleasure. Making coffee for everyone over the open fire in the morning . . .”
Barnett, whose last role was senior advisor to the president and general manager and director of U.S. amateur scouting with the Rangers, said he made the decision over the Labour Day weekend. Barnett then informed Glen Sather, the Rangers’ president and general manager.
Sather and Barnett go way back, of course. Sather was running the Edmonton Oilers when Gretzky was hockey’s best player.
“Glen was really good about it,” Barnett said. “He said family comes first.”
Barnett had been with the Rangers since July 8, 2008. Prior to that, he had worked for almost six years as general manager, executive vice-president and alternate governor of the Phoenix Coyotes.
Barnett has six children, five of them under the age of 21. The four girls, ages 19, 17, 13 and 12, all are at home.
They also have two sons — J.T. is a winger with the WHL’s Kamloops Blazers and presently is in camp with the NHL’s New Jersey Devils, while Jesse, who played one season of junior B hockey with the Summerland Sting, is in law school.
“I missed a lot of time with the girls,” Mike said. “And I just didn’t want to do the hotel-airport thing again. It’s been 25 years . . .
“It’s time for catch-up time at home.”
Barnett refused to rule out a potential return to hockey at some point down the road. He said he simply feels that family time is awfully important right now.
Barnett, who is to turn 53 on Oct. 9, was born in Olds, Alta. He played hockey at St. Lawrence University in Canton, N.Y., and spent two seasons (1973-75) in the old North American league before an eye injury ended his career. He also attend the U of Calgary where he earned a bachelor of physical education.
Barnett began CorpSport International in Edmonton in 1980, selling it 10 years later to IMG and becoming president of IMG’s hockey operations. a position he filled for 12 years.
At one time, Barnett represented the likes of Gretzky, Joe Thornton, Jaromir Jagr, Paul Coffey, Sergei Fedorov, Brett Hull, Mats Sundin and Alexander Mogilny.
Barnett was Gretzky’s agent when The Great One was dealt by Edmonton to the Los Angeles Kings on Aug. 9, 1988. Barnett, until then a resident of Canada, relocated to Los Angeles with Gretzky and has been a U.S. resident ever since.

gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
     
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Back by request, a look at some of the books I read over the last year. . . . I actually meant to post this before Christmas, but forgot. So, if you have a gift certificate to a bookstore, well, maybe this will help. . . .
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Beyond Glory: Joe Louis vs. Max Schmeling, and a World on the Brink (by David Margolick): A wonderful look at the Louis-Schmeling rivalry -- a black American against a white German -- and a reminder of just how huge boxing once was. Louis and Schmeling fought twice, in 1936 and 1938, with the Second World War not too far over the horizon. In this wonderfully researched work, Margolick uses the fragility of Europe and the United States to frame what was, at the time, the greatest rivalry in sports. (Knopf, hardcover, US$37.95)
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Dreams from My Father (by Barack Obama): First published in 1995, the book carries the subtitle A Story of Race and Inheritance. And it is precisely that. Through most of this book Obama, a young black man in an ever-changing America, is searching for something -- the meaning of life? family? -- as he sets out on what has become a rather meaningful existence. His visits with family in Kenya are especially intriguing. (Three Rivers Press, soft cover, US$14.95, Cdn$16.95)
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Get Capone (by Jonathan Eig): It’s simple. When I see Jonathan Eig’s name on a book, I want to read it. He also wrote Luckiest Man: The Life and Death of Lou Gehrig. It is a masterpiece. The research and the writing are impeccable and the look into the life of Al Capone, one of the best-known Americans in history, is amazing. This was the best nonfiction book I read in 2010. (Simon & Schuster, hard cover, US$28.00, Cdn$36.00)
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Game Six (by Mark Frost): This is a look back at the 1975 World Series and the teams and players who took part. It was the Boston Red Sox and the Cincinnati Reds, and by now you have seen Carlton Fisk urging that ball to stay fair about a gazillion times. I found the flashbacks hard to follow at times, likely because there wasn’t anything to set them apart from the rest of the story. The segments on then-Boston pitcher Luis Tiant, however, are amazing. (Hyperion, soft cover, US$15.99)
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The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest (by Stieg Larsson): This is the third in Larsson’s trilogy, all of which was published after his death and all of which topped the best-seller list(s). I don’t read a lot of fiction but, for some reason that I really can’t put a finger on, the three books -- the other two are The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and The Girl Who Played with Fire -- are captivating. If you haven’t already, start with the first one. Just don’t have all three in your home at the same time -- you may not sleep for three or four days. (Penguin Group, hard cover, Cdn$32.00)
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Gretzky’s Tears (by Stephen Brunt): Written by The Globe and Mail essayist, who is one Canada’s most thoughtful writers, this is kind of a sequel to his Searching for Bobby Orr, which was published in 2008. Both books are solid reads. The highlight of Gretzky’s Tears has to be Brunt’s take on former Los Angeles Kings owner Bruce McNall, who speaks quite openly about his sins, and all the goings-on surrounding the Edmonton news conference at which the trading of Gretzky was announced. (Knopf Canada, hard cover, Cdn$34.95)
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The Hanging Tree (by Bryan Gruley): This book would qualify as beach reading or for a couple of those rainy days at the cottage. I include it here because the book’s main character, Gus Carpenter, is a reporter for the Pine County Pilot and also a hockey player. He was a goaltender in minor hockey but now plays forward in a rec league. His take on the goaltending position and the pressures inherent in it are marvellous. This is a fictional murder mystery that perhaps goes on a bit too long, but I enjoyed it enough that I will find the author’s debut novel. (Simon & Schuster, soft cover, US$15.00, Cdn$17.00)
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Hollywood Moon (by Joseph Wambaugh): Spend a few days with the gang from the Hollywood police department, through the writing of a man who has been there. It’s vulgar, but it’s hilarious. I hadn’t read Wambaugh in a long time, and this one is right up there with his best stuff. Stephen King is right, when he says, this book is “full of hilarious anecdotes that ring absolutely true.” (Grand Central Publishing, paperback, Cdn$19.99)
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I’d Trade Him Again: On Gretzky, Politics, and the Pursuit of the Perfect Deal (by Terry McConnell and J’Lyn Nye, with Peter Pocklington): The authors are quite up front about this being Pocklington’s take on all things Canadian and then some. If you’re a Canadian hockey fan or follow Canadian politics, there isn’t a whole lot new here. But it is hard to believe there are so many people out there who have it in for Pocklington. Or are these just crocodile tears? (Fenn, hard cover, Cdn$32.95)
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Monday Morning Quarterback (by Peter King): No one has better, or more, insight into the National Football League, its teams and its players. If you are one of the gazillion NFL fans out there, you won’t want to miss this one. A very tasty morsel, indeed. It’s a compilation of some of his Internet columns but also is loaded with tidbits and anecdotes. It was release slightly more than a year ago but is still a gret read. (Sports Illustrated, hard cover, US$25.95, Cdn$30.95)
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Opening Day (by Jonathan Eig): This one is subtitled The Story of Jackie Robinson’s First Season. And it is exactly that. But it is more than that because Eig is the master of this kind of book. It actually was published in 2007, and I hadn’t had my hands on a copy until earlier this year. The story of Robinson’s first season with the Brooklyn Dodgers truly is amazing. If it wasn’t enough that he was the first black to play in the major league, he also had to play first base, which wasn’t his natural position, and, believe it or not, he wasn’t known as a terrific baseball player when the season began. This simply is an amazing, amazing story, and it is awfully well-written, which is an Eig trademark. He also has written Luckiest Man: The Life and Death of Lou Gehrig. Opening Day, which was saluted as one of 2007’s best books by the Chicago Tribune, Sports Illustrated and the Washington Post, is a keeper.
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Pistol (by Mark Kriegel): Subtitled The Life of Pete Maravich, this is one of the best biographies I have read. It is an incredible story of a father and a son and the consequences -- the reader can decide on the positives and negatives -- of the former living vicariously through the latter. (Simon and Schuster, soft cover, US$15, Cdn$17.50)
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Why The Leafs Suck And How They Can Be Fixed (by Al Strachan): The title says it all. The cynical and sarcastic Strachan starts in 1967-68 (the Leafs last won the Stanley Cup in the spring of 1967) and tears apart just about every owner, general manager, head coach and head scout who has had anything to do since then with the on-ice product -- with the exception of Cliff Fletcher and perhaps Pat Burns. An interesting read if you despise the Leafs. It’s a quick read, too, with fairly large type and wide spacing, and there is a whole lot of filler in the back end. Still, this one is better than Leafs Abomination -- which was a look into “why the Leafs stink” -- that came out around the same time. The latter book simply gets too bogged down in the machinations with Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, etc. (Collins, soft cover, Cdn$22.99)

Jim Swanson, who is into his last few days as sports editor of the Prince George Citizen, is correct when he informs me that I missed one. The Bullpen Gospels: Major League Dreams of a Minor League Veteran gets his vote as what he calls his "book of the year." Written by Dirk Hayhurst, a pitcher who has gone from living the dream to not wanting to admit the dream is over, this is a thoroughly enjoyable book and one to be recommended. Why wasn't it listed above? Because it is my grocery book -- it is in our car and when my wife is in a store getting groceries, I am in the car reading it -- and I haven't yet finished it. . . . But if you're a sports fan, don't miss this one. It is hilarious, poignant, and even more hilarious. And it is available in paperback. . . . When he wrote the book, Hayhurst was in the San Diego Padres' organization. Now he is with the Toronto Blue Jays, although injuries caused him to miss all of 2010.

gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
gdrinnan.blogspot.com
Taking Note on Twitter